Weymouth, MA – CMYK Distributors, Inc. is pleased to announce the recent installation of the InkZone Ink-Presets and Closed Loop Solution at DM Graphic Center in Fairfield, NJ.   DM Graphic Center is a full-service, commercial printer that has been serving the tri-state area for nearly 15 years.  With a staff of 9 employees, the centerpiece of the DM Graphic Center pressroom is a 2001, Heidelberg, SM74/29 inch, 8-color press equipped with a CP2000 console.   

“Because our make-ready time and paper waste was costing us time and money, we knew we needed automation to remain competitive, but the investment had to make financial sense.  A capital purchase on this level needed to be carefully thought out and well-researched,” said Kevin Matin, Owner of DM Graphic Center.  “The CMYK Distributors team was able to clearly demonstrate the impact that InkZone would bring to our company and to our bottom line in a way that made installing InkZone a no-brainer.  Thanks to InkZone, our Heidelberg is now fully automated with ink presetting and closed loop technology and the value of the InkZone solution to our company is significant.”

With InkZone, the interface between prepress and press is both powerful and economical.  InkZone is based on JDF technology and is fully compliant with global workflows and international standards. The workflow at DM Graphic Center was unable to harness the savings available to them because they had no way to communicate with their press.  By bringing their prepress department the InkZone DI-Plot software, they can now send ink coverage values in the form of JDF files to InkZone Perfect for conversion to calibrated machine and print-related values for presetting the ink keys and ductor rollers. The InkZone hardware components send this data via network and in the specific format required by the press console. 

As part of the solution, an X-Rite EasyTrax scanner is used to measure the color bar.  By measuring a color bar, the collected data is sent directly into the InkZone Loop software to automate that process.  Incorporating the X-Rite EasyTrax allows for ease of set-up with measures in both scanning and spot modes for use anywhere on a press sheet.  With laser alignment, press operators are assured of quality measuring results, and with X-Rite’s spectral accuracy, users can have confidence in their EasyTrax measurements.

According to Orlando Travicso, DM Graphic Center Pressman, “In a very short time, we were able to see results with InkZone.  There has been a measureable reduction in make-ready time and paper waste and we are able to get up to color much faster than before—typically in one or two pulls.”

“InkZone is an indispensable solution for printing companies of all sizes who want to achieve a stable, high-quality, standardized printing process,” said Mark Williams, Director of Sales for CMYK Distributors.  “With InkZone, we were able to help DM Graphic Center boost the speed of their set-up sequences and to significantly reduce paper waste.  Thanks to dedicated interfaces, a unique method to make a network connection to nearly all press consoles – even on older offset presses, – and an affordable price point, closing the workflow gap is attainable for all printing operations.”